Questions About This Book?

Why should I rent this book?

Renting is easy, fast, and cheap! Renting from eCampus.com can save you hundreds of dollars compared to the cost of new or used books each semester. At the end of the semester, simply ship the book back to us with a free UPS shipping label! No need to worry about selling it back.

How do rental returns work?

Returning books is as easy as possible. As your rental due date approaches, we will email you several courtesy reminders. When you are ready to return, you can print a free UPS shipping label from our website at any time. Then, just return the book to your UPS driver or any staffed UPS location. You can even use the same box we shipped it in!

What version or edition is this?

This is the 1st edition with a publication date of 7/15/2012.

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any CDs, lab manuals, study guides, etc.

The Rental copy of this book is not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. You may receive a brand new copy, but typically, only the book itself.

Summary

This major new edition of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy of love argues that that play is ultimately Juliet's. The play text is expertly edited and the on-page commentary notes discuss issues of staging, theme, meaning and Shakespeare's use of his sources to give the reader deep and engaging insights into the play. The richly illustrated introduction looks at the play's exceptionally beautiful and complex language and focuses on the figure of Juliet as being at its centre. Rene Weis discusses the play's critical, stage and film history, including West Side Story and Baz Lurhmann's seminal film Romeo + Juliet. An authoritative edition from a leading scholar giving the reader a penetrating and wide-ranging insight into this ever popular play

Author Biography

René Weis is a professor of English at University College London and a distinguished editor and biographer of Shakespeare.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

p. ix

General editors' preface

p. xi

Preface

p. xvi

Introduction

p. 1

Writing love

p. 1

'All the daughters of my father's house'

p. 2

Love's young sweet song: 'an excellent conceited tragedy'

p. 7

Love and literary form

p. 19

Time's winged chariot

p. 24

The dates of first performance and publication

p. 33

Lord Hunsdon's servants and will Kemp at the Curtain (1596-7?)

p. 33

Earth tremors and thirteen-year-old children

p. 36

Nashe's have with you to Saffron Walden (1596) and Romeo and Juliet

p. 39

A Midsummer Night's Dream

p. 41

Sources

p. 43

Brooke's Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet

p. 44

Tybalt, Mercutio and Paris

p. 47

Performing love

p. 52

From London (c. 1596) and Cambridge (c. 1598-1601) to Douai (1694-5)

p. 53

From Garrick (1748) to Berlioz (1839) and Cushman (1845)

p. 60

From Gounod (1867) and Tchaikovsky (1870/80) to Gielgud and Prokofiev (1935)

p. 69

From West Side Story (1957) to Old Pronunciation shakespeare (2004)

p. 77

The age of Zeffirelli (1960-8)

p. 79

Bogdanov and Luhrmann: from Alfa Romeo to Clockwork Orange Shakespeare and beyond (1986-)

p. 85

The texts: Q1 (1597) and Q2 (1599)

p. 94

Nurse's italics and Capulet's Wife's speech prefixes

p. 98

Shakespeare's handwriting and what it has left us

p. 100

Second thoughts: Queen Mab and others

p. 102

From Q1 to Q2

p. 105

Q1's stage directions: a record of performance or 'literary' ornaments?